We’re getting deep into the planning for our 6th annual PULSE conference (ibm.com/pulse), and I’m getting very excited about the storage content that is being assembled. Again, it will be at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, March 3 – 6, 2013.

At our Storage Track Kickoff session, we’ll have some new things to announce and highlight, and we’re close to announcing an exciting keynote speaker.

Following the track kickoff, we’ll have 20 breakout sessions on data protection and storage management topics, covering advances in virtual machine protection, disaster recovery, cloud integration, and a lot more. We’re mixing it up a lot more this year to ensure you get a range of perspectives. We’ll have 21 client speakers discussing their experiences and best practices; plus 8 business and technology partners providing insights into added value approaches to storage management who will be complemented by IBMers sharing the new stuff we’ve been working on.

Among the client speakers will be storage professionals from across the globe representing major banking, healthcare, media, industrial and university organizations. There will also be sessions on a variety of cloud topics, including private cloud storage and backup-as-a-service opportunities.

To follow on a theme mentioned by Steve Mills in his keynote at PULSE 2012, we’ll show how IBM “eats its own cooking”, sharing how IBM’s Office of the CIO transformed its massive storage infrastructure; and how IBM’s Strategic Outsourcing services organization is leveraging our products to more effectively manage their clients’ storage environments.

There will be many cool things to see in the expo center again this year, including offerings from many of our ecosystem partners, and you can roll up your sleeves in the hands-on labs and product training and certification areas.

Have you heard about this year’s PULSE PALOOZA entertainment? We rocked the Grand Garden Arena with Maroon5 in 2012, and will follow that with Carrie Underwood in 2013.

Now’s the time to act. Early bird registration, which saves client attendees $500 off the conference fee, closes December 31st. Go to http://ibm.co/pulseregister and get ready for an outstanding event. I look forward to seeing you there.

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